Anyone have experience with the 7200 rpm HDs? I am a bit concerned about noise level. I have the prev mini model and what I like about it is that it is so silent. Will there be a noticable difference in noise level compared to 5400?

Anyone have experience with the 7200 rpm HDs? I am a bit concerned about noise level. I have the prev mini model and what I like about it is that it is so silent. Will there be a noticable difference in noise level compared to 5400?

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I have a Sony Vaio laptop, I swapped out the stock 160GB 5400rpm HD for a WD Scorpio Black Edition 320GB 7200rpm ($99) and it's whisper quiet.

If you upgrade to a 320GB 7200rpm, I suggest the WD Scorpio Black Edition. Heat is a different issue, I have no idea how much more heat they might put off, but they aren't much louder if at all.

For the Mini, the CPU, the HDD, and RAM it could easily run upto $1500 dollars, at which point your better off just buying the baseline Mac Pro which is at least 2-3x faster. And you get a bigger hard drive, better graphics, more memory, more expandability etc. etc.

For the Mini, the CPU, the HDD, and RAM it could easily run upto $1500 dollars, at which point your better off just buying the baseline Mac Pro which is at least 2-3x faster. And you get a bigger hard drive, better graphics, more memory, more expandability etc. etc.

if you're intrepid may be worth getting that and doing a self install over the extra price of the 2.26 upgrade

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Curious as to why you think it would be worth getting this over the 2.26? Is the extra .14 worth the difference in cost (2.26 is a $150 upgrade from apple, so its $70 for the .14 + you have to install it yourself). I'm certainly not an expert, but like many of you, I want to build a fast, capable mini from the ground up.

Curious as to why you think it would be worth getting this over the 2.26? Is the extra .14 worth the difference in cost (2.26 is a $150 upgrade from apple, so its $70 for the .14 + you have to install it yourself). I'm certainly not an expert, but like many of you, I want to build a fast, capable mini from the ground up.

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thats a good point, although i'm looking at everything i can do to make sure there are no 1080p rips that the mini can't handle as i'm buying this for a plex machine

probably not a very noticeable performance boost

although, it could be argued that you may be able to sell the chip you pop out of the mini on ebay for at least a portion of the difference, i don't see why you couldn't get $50-70 bucks for it as it seems to sell for around $200 on its own, thereby negating the difference?

I am concerned about the noise level of the mac pro. But I cant say that I am not considering it.

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Noise on a Mac Pro? The Mac Pro's are amazingly quiet for the performance they put out. Usually the loudest component will be the video card heatsink / fan revving up when gaming. Other than that my old white Macbook was way louder (during heavy usage) than my mac pro w/ 8 cores at 100% using compressor or handbrake.

Noise on a Mac Pro? The Mac Pro's are amazingly quiet for the performance they put out. Usually the loudest component will be the video card heatsink / fan revving up when gaming. Other than that my old white Macbook was way louder (during heavy usage) than my mac pro w/ 8 cores at 100% using compressor or handbrake.

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